1.1.10-Alasse-irena
Brick!Club 1.1.10 This was, if I recall, the first chapter I really liked the first time round. It was the first time I actually understand what this book was *for*… I suppose we could give Hugo some credit and assume he deliberately gave us the bishop’s inconsiderateness and imperfections, such that we could be more pleased when he learnt things from the conventionary (who is called G—— in Hapgood, but I imagine has a name in other editions). Basically, what we see in this chapter is Myriel being wrong. He goes to visit this conventionary, whom he is pretty sure he doesn’t like (Myriel is clearly not entirely above local gossip), because he feels its his duty as a bishop. I rather enjoy how sheepish he becomes about being the bishop. "In that case, you are my bishop?" "Something of that sort." I suspect he’s feeling guilty here for not visiting the man earlier. This passage, and its response, are also interesting. You are a bishop; that is to say, a prince of the church, one of those gilded men with heraldic bearings and revenues, who have vast prebends,— the bishopric of D—— fifteen thousand francs settled income, ten thousand in perquisites; total, twenty-five thousand francs,— who have kitchens, who have liveries, who make good cheer, who eat moor-hens on Friday, who strut about, a lackey before, a lackey behind, in a gala coach, and who have palaces, and who roll in their carriages in the name of Jesus Christ who went barefoot! So, fair enough in one respect - the Catholic Church is wealthy to the point of awkwardness. But we know Myriel pretty damn well at this point, and we know he is not that kind of bishop. But he doesn’t defend himself. He just says, “I am a worm.” I’m guessing that what he’s doing here is recognising that, no matter how good he is himself about looking after the poor and everything, he is a part of the Church, and so he can’t claim to be completely guiltless… This chapter is sort of the follow-up of that chapter about the death penalty. In that chapter, Myriel is troubled by the fact that no matter how good he is himself, he is one man working within a broken system. In this chapter, he unexpectedly finds that the Revolution was an attempt to fix that system, and it was based essentially on ideals he holds himself. (I would love to make this paragraph more coherent, but it’s late. I’ll try and sort it out in the morning.) Other things - I love the fact that, when Myriel runs out of counter-arguments against the revolution, he tries, “Yeah but you’re an atheist, and atheism is bad.” That is not an argument, Myriel. You didn’t even try to tell us *why* this time. I am sort of pleased by the conventionary’s comeback that he does in fact believe in God, if only for the “indescribable shock” that the Bishop experiences. I’m also sort of disappointed though, because up until them, I’d thought that Hugo was showing us how he was able to write atheists who weren’t strawmen. Lastly, the whole arc of this chapter is just kind of lovely. Myriel sets out with the understanding that he must bless this “vulture”, however reluctant he is, and instead finds that this is a man from whom he would like a blessing. Okay. I apologise for lack of coherency. I am off to bed. Commentary Doeskin-pantaloons I’m wondering how other people interpret “I am a worm” now. I had assumed that the Bishop was saying that he is actually much more lowly and humble than the Conventionist thinks, and he doesn’t ride around an a carriage, but gets his hands dirty, like a worm. But I hadn’t considered the alternate interpretation, in which he is saying, “Yes, you’re right, I’m vermin.” Which one was Hugo going for? Any thoughts?